Loneliness In John Steinbeck's Of Mice And Men

After Lennie has inadvertently murdered Curley’s wife, Curley’s lynch mob go out in search of Lennie. George’s decision is almost inevitable to spare Lennie’s life, rather than let Curley and his gang destroy the bit of life Lennie has.

Crooks was marginalized because of his race; this symbolized the marginalization of the black community during this era. Firstly,he couldn’t play cards with the other men or go into the bunkhouse because he was black. Secondly, he sleeps in the barn with all of the horses. Even though he is injured and it is hard for him to walk, he still had to work everyday. Since he was always by himself, Crooks was probably always lonely and that was also a struggle for most of the characters."Well, you keep your place then, nigger. I could get you strung up on a tree so easy it ain't even funny."(p120) Curley’s wife threatened to have him hung and she would never have said that to any of the other workers. She had just said that because he was black and she needed to feel control over someone. Out of all the men on the ranch, Lennie was the only one that ever talked to him or tried to talk to him. When Curley's wife talked to him, it was always rudely or to call him

In John Steinbeck's classic novella “Of Mice and Men” is set in the late 1920’s in Soledad, California. Throughout the book, Lennie Smalls and Curley's Wife are two characters who struggle the most. Lennie is a mentally handicapped man who is too strong for his own good, while Curley's wife is a woman who is barred to any interaction with others, besides her husband Curley. She is often looked over and treated like she is worthless and not worthy of anyone's time. Steinbeck developed many different themes throughout the book by portraying characters differently.

She gave up her dream to be in a movie and hoped that she would be happy if she married Curley. Instead, Curley constantly ignores her making her feel lonely. He also controls her and doesn’t let her speak to any of the men on the ranch. “You better go home now,” he said quietly. “If you go right now, we won’t tell Curley you was here.” (Pg 81) This demonstrates Curley’s control over her and how the men disengage her. Since she is so lonely, she is always looking for attention and putting great effort into her looks. She is unable to make any associations with the men on the ranch because they see her as “jailbait” and realize that any kind of involvement with her would cause trouble with Curley. “Listen to me, you crazy bastard,” he said fiercely. “Don’t you even take a look at that bitch. I don’t care what she says and what she does. I seen ‘em poison before, but I never seen no piece of jail bait worse than her.” (Pg 32) This demonstrates that the men dislike her and make an effort not to get enticed by her. In this manner, Curley's wife is really not that

John Steinbeck develops crooks through his loneliness because of his unableness to fit in the farm. Crooks has trouble fitting in because of his race, on the farm he feels left out because not everyone is expecting with him. Crooks has a difficulty with everyone on the farm because he is different from everyone and he can’t do the same activities with them. Crooks has no one on the farm that accepts him and it is hard for crooks not to alone. One time Lennie looked for a dog and went into Crooks room “You got no right to come in my room”. Crooks isn't used to anyone being in his room and when people do he gets annoyed, but this one time when Lennie walked in Crooks allowed him to stay because he wanted to have company and felt comforted with Lennie with him. Crooks can't be with any of the other farmers , and has always been lonely. Many of them don't spend time with him which caused him to be depressed, “Maybe you guys better go. I ain't sure I want you in here no more. A colored man got to have some rights even if he don't like 'em"Pg 90. All the men on the farm don't give the same rights to crook sas the other

Curley is very possessive of her, as if she is something that belongs to him but that everyone else desires. Curley wants the men on the ranch to know that he has something valuable that they aren’t allowed to have. Because Curley’s wife is so lonely, she is always seeking attention and putting a lot of effort into her appearance. Steinbeck writes, “She had full, rouged lips and wide-spaced eyes, heavily made up. Her fingernails were red. Her hair hung in little rolled clusters, like sausages.” (31) Her over the top looks portrays her desperation to be noticed. Curley also restricts her from from socializing with the other ranch men, which makes her have no friends. She is unable to make any connections with the men on the ranch because everyone knows that if they talk to her, it will end up causing trouble with Curley, something every rancher is desperate to avoid. Since nobody seems to want to talk to Curley’s wife the loneliness makes her doubtful about herself. “What’s the matter with me? Ain’t I got a right to talk to nobody?” (Steinbeck 85). Steinbeck wants us to acknowledge loneliness and realize that sometimes people can be together and yet still be

After rushing into her relationship, she realized that Curley was not the ideal husband and ends up living on a ranch filled with men, and without friends. Without a husband that loves her and cares about her, Curley’s wife is stuck on a ranch without another woman and expected to stay away from the other men. Also, when Curley’s wife opens up to Lennie, she shows the reader that even though she has a husband, she doesn’t see him as a friend, resulting in loneliness. Just like Crooks, Curley’s wife just wants a friend; someone to confide in. Her feelings are shown when she says, “I get lonely, you can talk to people, but I can’t talk to nobody but Curley. Else he gets mad. How’d you like to not talk to anybody?”(Steinbeck 71) Lastly, the cruelty of Curley’s wife is illustrated in the scene where she confronts the men in Crooks’s room and gets rejected by them. Throughout the story, Curley’s wife dresses up and tries to act fancy, to try to keep herself in the hierarchy of the ranch, but when the weaklings on the ranch reject her, she realizes that there isn’t a place for her on the ranch. This realization of her loneliness leads her to unleash her rage on Crooks when she says, “ Listen, nigger. You know what I could do to you if you open your trap?... Well keep your place then, nigger. I could get you strung up on a tree so easy

The greater part of the novel's appeal, George and Lennie's relationship, although far from what one could call a reciprocal friendship, intrigues the reader in the same way many comic duos intrigue. It is easy to identify with the "smart guy" who helplessly tries to cope with and control his irrational, dumb and, yet, spontaneous, child-like partner as they lurch from one self-inflicted crisis to another. Steinbeck uses that classic comic routine so that the reader warmly identifies and recognizes the relationship. Steinbeck's narrator establishes and characterizes George's lording of power and control over Lennie early in the first chapter:

All of us have gone through loneliness at some point in our lives. Some more than others, but definitely at one time. Google defines loneliness as, “sadness because one has no friends or company.” In the book Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck, this is a recurring issue that many characters face at different times throughout the story. Most of the time, the author has the character express their loneliness directly through dialogue directed towards another character, but sometimes the reader needs to analyze hints from the author or re-read sections to uncover a character's hidden loneliness.

In John Steinbeck's novel Of Mice and Men, he shows us what it is like for

John Steinbeck's book of mice and men has lots of event and themes but the most important one is loneliness.Everyone gets lonely but sometimes being lonely makes you a better person, everyone needs someone to be there for them, and no matter who you are you will get lonely.Crooks, Candy and Curley's wife are the 3 loneliest people in the novel. Crooks is isolated candy has no one but his dog and they put him down and Curley's wife who just sits at the house all day while the men work.

Loneliness is a lot more deadly than people think. Unlike the lyrics to Williams’ song, it can literally kill you. In the book Mice of Men (written by John Steinbeck) each character is dealing with their own type of isolation. Isolation is not only problem in the the book, but a problem in the real world seen with older people, and people that live alone. It can cause obesity, suicide, early death, and a ton of other mental and physical defects.

The novel Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck told the story of two wandering farmhands, George and Lennie. They had no other family, so they traveled together from plantation to plantation looking for work. Lennie had some minor mental disabilities, so George was in charge of keeping him in line. The farm they were at now had a lot of seemingly lonely people. The three characters that best depicted the theme of loneliness in the novel were Crooks, Candy, and Curley’s wife.

The novel has a theme loneliness, the character that most feels alone is Curley’s wife. Curley’s wife was the loneliest throughout the whole novel. For example when she said “Why can’t I ever talk to you? I never get to talk to nobody, I get awfully lonely.” (Steinbeck 86)Curley’s wife can never talk to anyone, because Curley won’t allow her to.

“Loneliness, triggered by a desire to connect with others, reaches deep into [their] soul[s] and pushes [them] towards others” (Ed Donner). Loneliness has always been a problem in this society. It is an unpleasant feeling to have. Most people will experience loneliness and will acquire problems due to it, but most are unable to cope with it. This theme is recurrent in the novel, Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck. He describes Crooks and Curley’s wife as characters who are subjected to this emotion, loneliness; however, in their own way they survive through it.